Re: The Offer

And you do, like others have said, need to get a contract signed but hold off on that to the very end of the negotiations, when you feel comfortable with the person because the contract may cause the whole deal to go sideways.

An older blue Excal with connector, remote, Skullie headphones, and various coils. Got rid of the rest of my machines.

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All Types Of Treasure Hunting

Re: The Offer

Originally Posted by Scar

Frank, I posted once but it didn't go through, so if this post comes up as a double post it ain't my fault. Sometimes it takes a professional to deal with a landowner on dealing with searching for treasure under the surface of their property. I know a little about this because I do it for a living. The 10% spent on finding the property could have been used with a person that had the skills of finding the property and negotiating the deal to do the search. My clients have deep pockets, most of the time but if we hit it big it goes into the millions for the land/mineral owner and the client. My clients are in search of black gold from 1 to 3 miles below the surface of the earth. May I suggest an approach to this landowner, back off for a few months and find out everything you can about them. Don't show your hand or look anxious when you do contact them. If the cache is coins, maybe offer the best one along with the 1/3 cut.

Not to change the subject, but I never did understand how someone can buy and own the land but not the mineral rights? If I start a thread on this could you possibly explain this with a little detail and how a buyer might, if he can, avoid this situation? Send me a PM if you're up for this.

Re: The Offer

Bigscoop, I would think that your question could apply to this thread. I am a Louisiana boy and somewhat know the law here but I am not a lawyer, so folks don't quote me as gospel here. Most states look at surface ownership and mineral ownership as two separate things. You can sell the surface but not the minerals or visa versa. Louisiana law is based in the Nepolianic laws or codes that didn't believe that someone could own something forever into perpetuity. To my notion Louisiana law is the best. When minerals are sold separate from the surface in most states they remain with the buyer until sold off to another or transferred by inheritance to a decendent. Take a case where a person would own surface and minerals to one acre in Texas and sell the surface in the year 1900 but reserve mineral rights. Lets say this person had 12 children, and each of the 12 children had 12 children and each of them had 12 children, where would we be then with persons owning the minerals, maybe 1,728, and you do it by another 12 you will come up with 20,736 people owning minerals to 1 acre in the near future. To drill a oil well I got to track them down and get an oil lease. This is BS and it is only going to get worse as time goes by. In Louisiana if you reserve minerals in a sale it is only good for 10 years, if a well is drilled in that 10 year time frame and your property is in that unit then it sets the time clock back to zero, when the well stops production then the 10 year time clock starts to run again from zero, if another well is drilled within that ten year time frame then it sets the clock back to zero again. Most states outside of Louisiana are sitting on a crap deal but how do you fix it?

Re: The Offer

Bigscoop, forget surface definition it's the mineral definition that counts, sometimes water rights are separated too. Now lets get back on topic.
JASON, are you saying my partner should not get an equal share?. I can see you don't work with anybody THing and have never even gotten close to a big cache. I just consider the land owner another partner, that makes a three way split. By the way I will never go for a 50/50, I have other irons on the fire that would better serve my time. Frank

Re: The Offer

50 % for you and your freind or 25% each and its a deal vs 33% each and you got zippo / no deal --is it worth the 8% differance each to you and your partner to "seal the deal" or not ? -- but if you do agree to those terms -- insist on a written agreement to prevent any other " last minute mind changes by the owner " -- like uh , it was found on my land , and since you got nothing in writing , git or I'll hold you at gun point & call the law and when they get here and I'll say I just happened to catch you tresspassing and digging on my land , trying to steal my stuff off my land --(that way he gets everything - both of you get arrested and he can then take out a "restraining warrant" against ya'll to boot)

Re: The Offer

I would, by all means get a paper signed and probably notarized too. I think a three way split is fair, but then again, I don't own the land. Some landowners I have dealth with are really hardnosed when it comes to finding treasure on their land, so I guess that's why it is still there. Most will never be able to find it themselves and it will just remain buried, doing no one any good. Your situation is more of the norm than you realize. Many have found evidence of probable treasures when landowners refused to let the finders have a portion of the treasure. Sometimes it's easier to walk away and start another research on other likely leads elsewhere. I have gotten hot leads from some of the most unexpected places, mostly when talking to older people who remember someone sometime told them of a cache their grandfather left and the family never recoverd, since long forgotten by most of the family. Some pay off and some hit a wall when researching them. I know how much research goes into finding a probable lead and folloing it up with factual data. Spending hours pouring through newspapers and books at the library and checking deeds at the courhouse and trying to determine who owns the land now and exactly where a long lost house or structure stood is sometimes frustrating. Many hours can be spent and it is hard to walk away, but sometimes situations require us to do just that. I hope yours becomes a reality and the landowner decides that a portion is better than nothing. Good Luck. rockhound

Re: The Offer

I'm still so border line on this idea. Being new to the hobby, I think a 50/50 split would be great for me, but in your specific case, you claim to have other possible places to search for goodies, that are just as good, or atleast better then a 50/50 split on this one.

Then I agree, you should move on, let the owner debate it, if he has not responded to a deal you agree with by the time you have exhausted your other pursuits, then you could always, try again, or reconsider at that time.

As you mentioned, it's not a do or die situation, and it isn't a deal that is going to hold you up, then hold out for what you feel is fair until that time comes along.

Re: The Offer

i mow 10 acers it just my yard 9.5 acers is not all that big, he the land owner could find the cashe, maybe his buddy has a metal detector.

I`v been detecting for 48 years owned my own detector shop G.A.P. Metal Detectors here in N.Y.
See my old adds in Western & Eastern Treasures and Lost Treasure Magazines through the 90s
I hunt the Sullivan Trail here in N.Y.
Its the Golden Rule who ever has the Gold Rules"
ReadyShovel Holster

Re: The Offer

Dogpound. I kind of look at it the other way 1/3 for each is better than 0 for the owner. I am looking at 2 other caches but the owner has put himself on hold. It might take some time, but it will get to him.
It looks like you have never gone for a big one or you would not sell yourself so cheaply. I would never settle for getting less than the owner, after all, Its work for me but a gift for him. That's the trouble with THing, you find something through hard work and someone else will always be after it or a big cut of it. Frank